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John Hollenhorst ReportingGary Engels, Mohave County Investigator: "IF he decides to hire some high-powered attornies, we're going to be in for a fight."
There was no fight in Nevada today as Warren Jeffs waived extradition to Utah to stand trial. Jeffs will be brought to Saint George, where he will face rape charges in connection with the marriage of a young woman to a much older man. This just three days after he was captured during a routine traffic stop on a freeway near Las Vegas.
It was the moment many investigators and many reporters have been waiting for a long time. After being on his trail for years, we finally had a chance to see Warren Jeffs in person, shackled in a courtroom.
What's surprising is how soft-spoken he is for a man whose every statement is considered a prophecy, every wish a command, by thousands of followers. Jeffs was barely audible as he acknowledged his identity and agreed to be brought back to Utah on rape charges that could bring five years to life.
Gary Engels, Mohave County Investigator: "I think somewhere in the middle there would be right for all the human devastation that he's caused by splitting up all the families in his community. That alone, we've not seen the worst of it yet."
Security in the courthouse was beefed up considerably for the Jeffs hearing. SWAT cops held automatic weapons in corridors and entryways.
Michael Sommermeyer, Court Spokesman: "We've just made it a policy and a practice not to take any chances."
The Utah case involves a teenage bride from the Jeffs community on the Utah-Arizona border. Prosecutors have never revealed her name or age. Jeffs allegedly ordered her to marry an older man and have sex with him.
Jerry Jaeger, Deputy Washington County Attorney: "She's very strong, very brave. She wants to come forward because she wants to help others in that same environment. She hopes by coming forward that other people will leave and also escape the abusive situations that they may be in."
In the days since Jeffs arrest, investigators say fear is rising among Jeffs outcasts and potential witnesses.
Jerry Jaeger: "Now it's the point where they know they're going to have to testify and the stress levels are going to triple on these witnesses. And the people in the community who are apostates are now worried about retaliation."
Prosecutors hope the arrest will break Jeffs' hold on nearly 10,000 followers and empower them to speak out about their lives within the sect and the arranged marriages of young girls there, some just 13 years old.
In past attempts to prosecute polygamists within the sect, victims have faced powerful pressure to stay quiet from family members and their insular communities along the Utah-Arizona line that consider Jeffs a prophet of God.
Just this week, a sexual assault trial of another sect member was put on hold after the alleged victim, a woman married off at 16, refused to testify.
"They pretty much have to renounce their entire heritage to go against the prophet," said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. "That has got to be hard to do."
Jeffs, who has refused jailhouse interviews this week, spent three months on the FBI's Most Wanted List before his chance arrest in Las Vegas.
It's expected Jeffs will be moved to Utah shortly. Then the big question is, will he fight? For years he's ordered his followers to have nothing to do with the legal system: His commandment was "Answer them nothing!" It wouldn't surprise a lot of people if he never even got a lawyer.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
